Draft remarks on the Promissory Notes Arrangement

This is a welcome deal.

And it was a deal – a negotiation between two parties. And in any negotiation there is compromise. So it’s never going to be perfect, it’s never going to be exactly what we want. But we should recognise that this is the best possible outcome.

Those advocating a zero-sum approach in our dealings with our international partners will hopefully begin to recognise the folly of this approach. High-stakes, tough talking might sound good but the risks are too high and the supposed benefits too uncertain when we are talking about the wealth of the nation.

The government should be congratulated for adopting the strategy that it did and for successfully seeing it through, quietly and with determination, despite all of the criticisms and despite those calling on it to change its strategy.

Improve Ireland’s reputation abroad, increase foreign investment, commit ourselves to the necessary financial corrective measures, stabilise the economy, bring sovereign bond yields down.

Make Ireland a place to invest in again so that the European Central Bank could.

This has worked. So let us recognise that.

The deal will not solve all of our problems. But the clear benefits should be recognised.

It will reduce our borrowing requirements over the coming years. It will help in reducing the General Government Debt and making our pathway to managing that debt more sustainable, it will help in our deficit reduction measures, and it will make it easier for the country to exit the bailout on surer footing.

These are positives and they should be acknowledged.

I’m not saying that people shouldn’t challenge the government. I am not an opponent of criticism, where it is just, and indeed I have criticised my own side from time to time.

But we also need balance. And opponents of this government need to accept what is a good deal for this country, welcome it, and move on to something else.

This isn’t about deference for deference sake. The Tanaiste is right – that age has gone. But there is a need for balance and for common sense.

A need to acknowledge a good outcome when it does come.

This deal does not change the financial imperative: to correct the imbalance in the national finances and reduce the deficit as quickly as possible.

That problem or challenge has not gone away. We are still spending too much. We are still spending some of our money in the wrong way.

We must continue the great correction already underway – speed it up if we can. Because this will help. And we must continue the structural and systemic reforms to the public sector and to government – in the way that we spend public money to ensure that we are spending that money as efficiently as possible.

We must take caution against returning to the give-away mentality of the past: trying to buy support for constituent elements of the electorate either by shouting a cause where there is none, or worse, promising money where there is none.

The times demand greater responsibility than that.

Of course people are experiencing difficulties. Of course there are those who need the state’s help.

But some element of trust must be returned to politics. People need to trust again in their politicians. The government needs to be trusted to continue with its macro-economic strategy, because it is working.

Cutting the deficit, reforming the government purse, growing the economy and with that growth doing everything we can to facilitate job creation. That’s the big structural change that needs to take place. This deal helps.

Click here to watch a video of my contribution.